I read somewhere that Sky tried to get Simon a few years ago but, he turned them down because they wouldn't take Adam too.

Obviously, they now couldn't take Simon as he served out a ban last year for not getting a TUE for his asthma nebulizer.

To be honest, I think it's in their best interests to stay with Orica anyway,

I wonder sometimes why Dan Martin declared for Ireland. A stronger team and he's definitely be a contender.

I raced a few times with his dad and there wasn't a lot of love lost between him and Stephen Roche (his brother in law) I suspect it might be a pecking order thing: he's undoubtedly the top Irish cyclist but, he'd probably be behind Froome, Thomas and the Yates boys if he'd chosen to represent Britain.

Great weather forecast today for when the riders drop down from the cat 4 climb. Promise of side/tail to side /head all of which means we may get Echelons which means great fun to see the resulting carnage

I hate having negative thoughts about cyclists performance, especially as we have such a close race this year, but considering the number of teams he has been at, including Sky, and never looked like quite being a real GC winner, Uran suddenly seems to have found a new level....

Bend it like Repka wrote:I hate having negative thoughts about cyclists performance, especially as we have such a close race this year, but considering the number of teams he has been at, including Sky, and never looked like quite being a real GC winner, Uran suddenly seems to have found a new level....

Next year is going to be interesting. Even if Froome wants to join the '5 club', he's going to find it much harder.

I think the organizers will continue to do their best to make the course Bardet and Barguil friendly i.e. as few time trials as possible and erring on the side of short, hilly ones. Froome also won't have Landa and I wouldn't be surprised if Kwiatkowski is on his way too and the latter in particular will be a big miss. His ride might have been the best I've ever seen from a domestique.

Three Brits in the top seven if you count our Kenyan and the Irish Brummie

Congratulations Mr Froome, a deserved fourth tour.Not so dominant this year and clearly its his Time Trailing abilitiues that is the difference.With Landa off to Moviestar and Nieve to Orica cant see anyone else that Froome leading the Tour next year and potentially 2019 as well.Domoulin I think will be Froomes biggest test next year and can also see potentially Sky seeing him as the successor to Froome.Agree with you Clucking I think Thomas just falls short in terms of Grand Tours. I do think Kwaitkowski will stay. Definately will build their classics squad around him.

Roll on Vuelate which i always enjoy. Tend to have a few more end of season loose cannons in that race

rare as rockinghorse shat wrote:It all seems a little odd how Froome is getting such little credit in comparison to when Wiggins won.

I think there's a couple of reasons other than the argument that being the second man on the moon is less impressive than being the first.

Primarily, I think it's the 'plastic Brit' thing. Even though Wiggins was born in Belgium to an Australian father, he's spent pretty much his entire life in the UK. If you add up every day that Froome has spent in the UK since birth it probably doesn't add up to an entire year and I suspect he won't be moving from Monaco to, say, Romford once he retires.

I'm a Brit with two passports and I've got friends who were born in South Africa, Rhodesia, Australia, Uganda and Hong Kong. These guys all have British passports but they've only ever been to the UK for school or to visit relatives. As such I don't really have a problem with Froome in this respect although I understand why others might.

The other thing is that Froome is a bit like Andy Murray or Steve "Interesting" Davis. They're good at what they do but, they obviously don't give a **** about the entertainment/celebrity side of their sport. On the other hand, you can probably hire Wiggins to entertain at children's parties.

Agree with CB above, Froome is a bit vanilla. Wiggins was a big personality to follow and I don't think too many could fill his shoes in that respect. Personally I never liked Froome after the incident when he had to be ordered back by Brailsford to help Wiggins. Wiggins was the nominated team leader and Froome was putting his own ambitions ahead of those of the team. I wouldn't argue that Froome was the better climber, but Wiggins was the chosen team leader that year and certainly the stronger time triallist. I have no doubt that decision was based on hard data and also the knowledge and experience he'd had finishing fourth previously. Froome has had to lean pretty heavily on teamates to achieve his four wins, lucky for him that his teammates seem to have a better team ethos with following team orders than he did.

Wiggins got away with murder. I was hospitalised with Asthma years ago but I never heard of anyone having the treatment that he had. They knew what they were doing. What annoyed me is that they took that last rulling as if it was exonerating them. It did nothing of the sort.

I did think Froome was clean though, but you're right. THey are probably all on something or another.

Jasper wrote:OopsFroome under investigation for failed test at Vuelta this year.To high a concentration of Sulbutamol according to artical in the Guardian and on Team Sky site.

This really surprised me finding out about this.

As an asthmatic there are times when sometimes I have a reaction to food and the normal two puffs don't totally clear it. Maybe 15 mins later I'll have another squirt.

It must be difficult to limit your doses when you know your airway is not quite right.

I find it ridiculous journalists are pouncing on this saying his reputation is damaged. This is salbutamol for a common condition, not transfusing blood or taking pure steroid for enhancement. Studies even question if it has any benefit for endurance athletes.